The Game Room

I may have been Bess in a former life because I am absolutely in love with Houdini. Therefore, every time I’m in a city with a Houdini themed room I must play it. This however, was not my favorite Houdini room. Actually it could’ve been called, “Any old magician’s office,” since I didn’t really feel as though Houdini inspired anything in it. I know we were looking for shackles and a straightjacket, but Houdini was so much more than those two props. The room itself was spacious and well decorated. The study looked like a real study and so forth. The set pieces were nicer than the typical Ikea furnished room. The lighting and color scheme was pleasant. However, I didn’t really feel immersed in a Houdini-esque world. It felt like a really nice study that probably belonged to a magician. The puzzle design was average. There was little to no technology, which is fine, but the puzzle creativity was a little lacking especially when considering the theme. There was one really fun “Aha” moment, but other than that it all felt a little overwhelming and chaotic. There was a little searching involved. There was a lot of solving simple yet tedious puzzles both physical and mentally. There were two puzzles that stood out as far as being difficult for the sake of having something difficult in the room, one of which required prior knowledge. (Maybe playing chess is common knowledge, but I don’t think it is.) My biggest problem with the room was that amount of people they stuffed in it. It was way too crowded and even with the busy work there wasn’t enough to occupy everyone simultaneously.

It was just ok. We had four people and this game would have been more fun with two.